Follow Up: Echoes on the Line

I made a business phone call the other day and had echoes on the land line for one solid hour! It was so irritating!

We have extension telephones in two different rooms, an answering machine, and a computer -- all on one telephone line. I suddenly realized that we probably had too many machines hooked up to one phone line.
 

So I disconnected one of the machines on the line. Low and behold, no echoes.

I am waiting to see if I have hit upon the answer. I don't know yet.

Someone said that echoes can occur if a speakerphone button is left on, but I don’t think that was the problem in our case. 

I feel that I have found AN answer, but not THE answer.

Some Questions for Discussion:

1. Why do we need to have a telephone in every room? Have we all gotten so lazy we cannot walk from one room into another room?
2. Do we have to have a phone in every room because we have seen that other people have this?
3. Have comfort and convenience become so all-important to us that we will do anything to have more gadgets in our lives? 
4. We certainly need to be patient to solve some of these technical problems. Can you think of a situation in which you needed to be very patient?